[Editor's Note: Our good friend Brendan Bowers, who has been contributing to MSF under the name "J.D. Shaver", has shifted his blogging focus from his old blog Shaver Sports to his new one: Stepien Rules. He will now be posting under that name to remind you all to visit his site, which we can only assume will continue to be one of the best Cavs blogs out there. To learn what exactly "Stepien Rules" means, view the about page of the new blog.]
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Xavier Musketeer Jordan Crawford dunked over the top of LeBron James recently at a LeBron James-Nike Summer Basketball Camp. LeBron then whispered something into the ear of a Nike exec shortly after, and the tape was subsequently confiscated. You may have heard about it. My friends at Cleveland Frowns coined the phrase ‘Dunktapegate’ in a post Thursday  which collectively summarizes the online opinions of many on the subject.  Most people conclude that James is ’surprisingly lame,’ ’pathetic,’ and a ‘North Korean communist,’ for allegedly directing the destruction of footage. Even Ozzie Gullien’s favorite ‘columnist’ chimed in, calling the King a ‘baby’ and his Nike constituents, ‘goons.’Â
But how does everyone know for sure what exactly it was that James whispered?Â
What if he said: ‘Get those tapes, and send them to Phil Knight, that’s our next marketing campaign.’
 You don’t know that he didn’t, and it would have the makings of LeBron’s most powerful Nike Campaign of all time if he did.
In a ‘Be Like Mike’ motiff, Nike could say that if you wear LBJ’s – like Jordan Crawford – even you can run faster, jump higher, and dunk harder than LeBron James himself.  Imagine the anticipation towards such a campaign if its the first time this dunk is aired. Might not be as powerful if it was on You Tube for months prior.  If you don’t think this could be already in motion, well it might be.  On the Dan Patrick show Friday, Dwayne Wade said that Nike Pitchman Kobe Bryant called Wade and said ‘we need to give LeBron ‘stuff,’ for this.’
‘Stuff,’ or more publicity.
The marketing spins are endless here, and I find it impossible to believe that LBJ and Nike won’t capitalize.
If you think not, I’d ask you to answer the following questions:
 What does LeBron James lose by people seeing Jordan Crawford dunk on him? Will people forget the hundreds of come from behind rejections he had this past season? Will people forget that LeBron blocked a 360-attempt by Jason Richardson? Or that he has dunks on the heads of Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan to his credit? Will they make him give his MVP Trophy back? Additionally, if LeBron is not only going to show up to, but actually play pick-up games at, the basketball camps bearing his name, why is he playing? Is it so that he can dunk on the faces of all campers, and block all their shots? Or is he allowing them the opportunity to play against the best in the world, and to go home saying to themselves, ‘I was on the same court as LeBron James, and I held my own.’ Â
Is Jordan Crawford’s basketball career better for attending the LBJ-Nike summer camp? Isn’t that the point of basketball camps? Doesn’t Nike sell the idea that you too can play better too if you wear Nike shoes?
When the LBJ – Kobe Puppet Campaign is over, this will be next, and you heard it here first.
* – Lebron James photo credit: AdRants.com
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Brendan is a featured columnist at Midwest Sports Fans who also runs Stepien Rules, where they discuss everything you ever wanted to know about the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Brendan’s contributions to Midwest Sports Fans are sponsored by BigTimeGameBoards.com, the company that helps you tailgate like a champion with our high quality cornhole boards, sets and accessories. And if you don’t know what cornhole is, you aren’t a Midwesterner.
Major League Baseball’s first half of the season ended poorly for Ohio’s two teams.
Growing up, the Home Run Derby was always my favorite part of baseball’s All Star weekend. I used to love it. Â I remember my dad telling me about the 
Josh Hamilton wasn’t just hitting home runs, he was murdering baseballs and attacking bleachers.  He appeared to be doing it so effortlessly too.  And even though this comparison has been made millions of times over the past 16 or so months, I could not help thinking about how much Hamilton’s incredible story reminded me of one of my all-time favorite movies: The Natural.
just because”, but it’s just the way it goes.)Â I just love watching sports, and any team or person that plays with integrity, heart, and soul I like. Well, I was able to go to some Sox games this year and to tell you the truth, I never had anything against the White Sox. I was happy for them when they won the World Series in 2005. I didn’t know much about Ozzie Guillen, but I already liked him. His interviews are the best, he never says anything he wouldn’t tell his players first, and his knowledge of the game, though it might be different than others, is brilliant. He is a very underrated manager that gets his players to play their best. Nowadays that is a great achievement.
Just when you think the Cubs’ season can’t get any worse, it did.
had only one good year, and he has had problems with previous players and coaches.
A lot of people who examine UFC fight cards – not the 
mission expert and seems to have figured out how to win on his feet.
lbs. Also, he has a history of missing weight for big fights (ok one big fight, but it was the one which gave him this fight).
Back in May, one of the hottest topics in baseball was the Padres’ desire to deal stud SP Jake Peavy and the revelation that they had agreed to a deal in principle with the White Sox. The Cubs had long been rumored to be atop the list of likely landing spots for Peavy, so the report of Peavy’s imminent deal to the Sox surprised many.
how disappointed we might have been had he come to the South Side in a deal for two of our top pitching prospects and threw a 3.9+ ERA up there over the balance of the season.
).
The 
You all know that 
Golf betting
It has been far too long since I’ve shared a little link love, and I’m rectifying that this morning. Here are some of my favorite links from the past few days from our good friends around the sports blogosphere:
Update on ViB: It Tastes Damn Good
Well, as promised, now I’ve tried it. And here’s the report: it’s damn good.
As far as I know, there are currently two flavors of ViB: Mango-Lime and Pomegranate-Berry. I’ve only had the Mango-Lime thus far as the Pomegranate-Berry flavors were selfishly consumed by others in our office. Bastards. Looking forward to trying the Pomegranate-Berry flavor, which I believe was the original and only flavor until they added the Mango-Lime.
The drink is lightly carbonated with a strong but not overpowering flavor. I can’t say that I necessarily felt any relaxation effects strong enough to describe, but part of that could be due to the fact that I was quitting coffee (or at least going cold turkey for a few weeks so I stop getting headaches if I don’t drink it in the morning). I did notice that the drink helped me focus though. I drank ViB both times in the afternoon, when I was already somewhat rundown from the caffeine withdrawal, and it helped me get through the rest of my day with a little more focus.
But more importantly, it tastes really, really good.
So my recommendation is to find a bottle and try it out. Here’s the website for more info. You can buy it by the case and they’ll ship it to you and they also have a list of stores where it is available.